I really hate dealing with trolls like this
I really do. It may not seem like it, but I have to go out of my way to cut through a bunch of bullshit and a large amount of the time that really isn't needed. But... you know, sometimes, people want attention from me and they won't shut up about it. It'll just end up wasting more of my time if I don't nip this in the bud. Especially if they threaten to sue you. This is new. I mean, I've had trolls threaten to kill me, but never threaten to sue me. "It has come to my attention that you are writing a webtoon using the name Growing Around. I am a member of my town's local band created 2 years ago, named due to the fact that the band has two 13 year olds, one 17 year old, one 21 year old, and one 28 year old. I must ask that you please change the name of your webtoon, and I must inform you that we will take legal action if you do not. Thank you for reading. -Jack Ferman" Where do I begin? I threw this out as spam for several reasons: * The DeviantArt account was made the day that I got the note. * No names were given, except for one. Jack Ferman. So, off to google. Such a helpful thing. Well, the only one listed here is a hockey player, not a band member. twitter.com/FermanJ97 * Searching through his entire feed, he did not mention Growing Around or bands once. * But I must reiterate this: I did not get a name of the town. I did not get a name of any of the band members, except one. But the name was not connected to the age. If this Jack Ferman was really a member of this band, he could be either of the 13 year olds and not understand anything about law, or judging by the picture he could be the 17 year old and not understand anything about law. * NAMES CANNOT BE COPYRIGHTED. Of course, he decided to reply: "Names cannot be copyrighted, although they can be trademarked. Our particular name is trademarked, although we are willing to sell it... or sue nonpaying users of it... for up to ten thousand dollars. We are ready and willing to sue if you take more than a week to reply to this or you once again block our account. Think about this, MrEnter. I have read that you are already in a legal battle with FOX. You cannot win 2 battles at once. So what would you rather do? Change you name, or have us sue your ass for $10,000.00? You'll lose this webtoon, you'll be sued by FOX, you'll lose your account, you'll lose your house, your entire life will be in shambles. I do not like to be aggressive, but you are right on the line. So choose. Destroy your life over a trademark? Or change your name." Well, Mr. Ferman. You're kind of an asshole. Not only do I restate my points before, but this screams trolling and frivolous lawsuits. But once again, no names were given, no proof that this band exists. And I did a shit ton of background research. Oh by the way, Mr. Ferman, right now I'm actually going through the process of getting my copyright on Growing Around register in the US Library of Congress (granted it's not actually necessary, but it can always come in handy. You never know how badly copyright will get butchered, amiright?). But you're not sorry. Fear tactics don't work on me, by the way. Then the guy decided to pay for someone to relay the message. I don't know why, since people will gladly relay messages to me for absolute free.: "We live and play in Martley, Worcester, England. If you must have our website, here is our webs site designed by our American friend John Henneths: growingaround.webs.com/ . Our song is on the website. -J. Ferman" Where do I begin? No really. This is like the damning piece of evidence. * Let's start with fact number one. Worcester is a town of England... not a province. Martley is a part of Worcestershire, and no, Worcester is not a shortened version because Worcester is a TOWN in Worcestershire. The official band of Martley, Worcester, England should know which province they're in. Both Wikipedia and Martley's official website knows. * But here's the crux of things: Martley has its own website. That's right. Guess what's not mentioned on the official Martley site? That's right, they're apparently official band. * Let's take a look at that website. Minimalist doesn't even begin to describe it. The home page proudly says "Listen to our music, read our blog, find more about us, and do anything related to Growing Around on Growing Around's official WebsSite. I'd love to, but... * There are no blog entries... from a band that's been going strong for two years apparently. Once again, not one name is mentioned. Not one. Not the site designer's (on the web page anyway), not Ferman's, and not one memember of the band. All that's there is a 45 second clip of a song that... could not possibly from any town's official band. * Here's what I want to know. Why isn't there any way to find this band's songs? Maybe send them a paypal donation? I mean, it's later stated that this website is at least a month old (and not indexed by Google for some reason). You've clearly had time to do snaz it up a little. * Oh on top of that, why would a town's official band also have two minors in it? And five members. I know that Martley only has 1,200 people, but... oh, you apparently have an excuse. More information from the deliveryman: "I had already received the payment well before I sent that message, they hired me. They just started their website last month, right after they hired me. The two 13-year-olds in the band are the niece of the 28 year old and the singer who is the nephew of the 21 year old. I am a fan of your works, Mr. Enter and I would not have sent this in the first place if it were not my responsibility. Also, the five members are just the actual stage members, not counting the workers behind the band, such as me and John Henneths. The reason we are not on Martley's website is because we cover more than just Martley, actually we cover nearly half of Worcester. I have relayed your message back to him, although he has not yet replied. Have a good morning, MrEnter." * Let's start with the obvious problem. WORCESTER IS A TOWN, not a province. I don't live in England and I know that. A quick trip to wikipedia will let you know that. Someone is a liar, or someone is an idiot. * It sounds like you're confused. a town's official band performs at that town's ceremonies. They don't go on tour or anything. Let's talk about the thing I haven't even touched on. They're from England. Do you know how hard it is to sue someone from another country if you're not a big corporation? * you need to purchase yourself a plane. * You need to hire a lawyer from their country. * Not to mention that you need to do research on their country's laws. * While you're there, you need to pay for your room and board. An actual lawsuit in American courts can take months to years. * You also need a visa to live or work in a country, unless you want to fly over here for court every single day. And if that's the case, you don't need 10 grand and this small start-up doesn't threaten you. * Also, this is under the assumption that you'll WIN the court. None of this gets reimbursed. So imagine you lose. Not only will you have to pay your lawyer's fees, you'll have to pay for let's call it six months of home and board, the flight there and the flight back, oh and not to mention that you might have to deal with my legal fees. If you could afford this kind of risk, you'd probably be using something a little bit more sophisticated than freewebs, and you didn't even pay to use your own URL. Let's go over the facts. * you don't know the province of your home town. Of which you are the official band member. * We don't know the names of any of the actual performing band members. * The only website you have could have been made by Hobo Joe at the library. Oh, and by the way, if you're thinking of doing anything funny, I'll be archiving this web page on the internet wayback machine. Link here: web.archive.org/web/2014100406… * You are not mentioned on wikipedia. You are not mentioned on Martley's website. * If it's a town's official band, they would most likely not be performing in other towns; if it was its own band there would be some way to support this band. * you use scare tactics, which are different than confidence. Threatening the possibility that I'll loose everything is a fear tactic, laying the cards down on the table like this is confidence. * Most importantly, there's no proof that this band actually exists. Let me rephrase: no proof that will hold up in court. In American court. Let me restate my rule though for convenience sake, do not try to get blocked people unblocked. Don't relay their information. This is the shit that I deal with. Whether it's this guy, a creepy stalker with a crush, or the guy who wants me to say N***** in my videos because, in his own words "it'll make him feel better." Do not enable these people. I block them for a reason. Category:Miscellaneous